Salmon Mousse Dip – a perfect holiday meal appetizer. Just a few ingredients and takes only a few minutes to make. 

Here I am with another Thanksgiving recipe my mom has been making for a million years and I figured I should share it because it is a good one. This is her Salmon Mousse Dip and it has been a holiday appetizer on her menu forever.

I admit that I am not the biggest fan of Thanksgiving foods. Except for the cranberry chutney I shared the other day. Also my mom’s recipe. In fact all of my Thanksgiving recipes I am sharing this month are ones my mom makes.

I have only made traditional Thanksgiving dinner once. That’s right. Once. I roasted a turkey, made all the sides, but I didn’t make a pie, I made a pumpkin bread pudding instead that I had found in the food section of the newspaper when we lived in Oregon. Roasting a turkey once in my lifetime is fine with me. I also baked a pie for this month.

Thanksgiving as a kid went like this : My brother, dad and I would stuff ourselves on this salmon mousse dip, cheese, crackers and nuts; basically fill up on appetizers. 

Then came dinner and I would only eat a huge bowl of the cranberry chutney and a canned crescent roll.  My mom always made me pop the can open since it scared her and I would chase after her with the can to try to scare here. I was such a good kid.

My brother and dad would have plates piled high with all the foods my mom made, and usually eat seconds.  Then we would have pie. My mom made pumpkin and apple. I am not really a pie person, mostly because of not really liking pie crust.

My brother and I would pile our pieces of pie sky high with canned whipped cream, often we would squirt it straight into our mouths and then I would pick out the filling of the pies and that’s it.

We almost always had Thanksgiving at our house. I don’t remember traveling anywhere for it so there were many times we would have some extended family with us. My mom would make us dress up and I never understood why. Why wear fancy restricting clothes when you’re about to eat your face off? I say bring on the stretchy pants. Especially if you start ” dinner” at 2 pm and eat appetizers like this dip for a good hour straight.

There were many times my brother and I would polish off the salmon mousse and my mom wouldn’t get any. She should have learned to make a double batch and hide some for herself.

I had to slightly rewrite my mom’s recipe. This is an excerpt from it ”  … or use the ready to go canned salmon Costco has. You will need two cans of that. Its by the tuna”.  ha ha!

This dip would also be amazing made with smoked salmon. 

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Yield: 6-8

Salmon Mousse Dip

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Salmon Mousse dip is an amazing holiday appetizer. Serve with fresh cut veggies and salty crackers.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Total Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 lb of canned Wild Alaskan salmon (Sockeye or Copper River is best) smoked salmon would also work well)
• 8 ounces of cream cheese, softened
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp white onion, diced fine
• 2 tsp prepared horseradish ( I used Bubbies all natural)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Parsley or chives for garnish

Instructions

Drain and flake salmon, removing skin and bones. Place in the a food processor along with the rest of the ingredients, except the garnish. Process until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl now and then. Taste and add more salt, lemon or horseradish if desired. Transfer to an airtight container and chill for at least 2 hours. Add garnish before serving. Serve with crackers, French bread slices and veggie sticks.

Notes

You can use prepared canned salmon ( skin and bones already removed) to save some time. I used a food scale to make sure I had a whole pound worth because after removing the skin and bones it was a lot less so I used three 7.5 ounce cans which ended up just shy of a pound

Did you make this recipe?

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Make this dip. I promise you will love it. My 5 year old can’t get enough of it. The other day she said ” I love this tuna dip” I tell her ” No honey it’s salmon not tuna”  Her reply ” Tuna…salmon.. same thing. Its smashed fish and I love it”. Edit 6 years later – both my daughters still love salmon and can’t get enough of this dip.